Tuesday

PROVIDENCE — With Rhode Island now facing an $800-million projected budget deficit, "it’s hard to see how we get out of this without doing furloughs" of state workers, Gov. Gina Raimondo said Tuesday.

As Rhode Island and others states across the nation begin grappling with the financial devastation wreaked by the coronavirus pandemic, Raimondo said state workers, whom she’d been trying to protect from joining the rolls of more than 210,000 others who have filed unemployment claims here, will likely face unpaid leaves from their jobs.

"We have just started the work of looking at our budget in earnest, now that we know how big the hole is," Raimondo said during her daily news briefing. "I would love to avoid furloughs and layoffs, but I don’t see how we’ll be able to do that."

The COVID-19 crisis and near shutdown of the economy has eroded state tax collections, gambling profits and other revenue for this year and next by a combined $797 million from the projections in Raimondo’s January budget proposal. The shortfall includes a $280.9-million gap in the current year ending June 30 and $515.8 million in the year beginning July 1.

In addition, state spending over the two years is projected to rise $53.9 million over November’s previous estimates, according to analysts’ figures released last week.

Raimondo said she is depending on Congress to come through with another aid package, and until she knows if, and how much, the state will receive, it’s virtually impossible to try to cobble together a budget with legislative leaders.

"I am continually told by our federal delegation, by the Trump administration, by the vice president, by the secretary of the treasury that there’s very likely to be another stimulus package to help states with exactly this problem."

In the last stimulus package, Rhode Island received $1.25 billion in aid.

So "if I’m going to get a half-billion dollars in federal aid to fill a budget, it’s going to be a very different budget than nothing. And I’m told that’s two or three weeks away."

With or without an infusion of more federal aid, Raimondo painted a bleak financial picture for the coming year, at least.

"I have to find money. And by the way, this budget is going to be brutal. I don’t know where we’re going to find $800 million. Everyone is going to be unhappy. Everything is on the table . Everything…

"And also we’re going to have to think very differently. You can’t just do traditional cuts. There’s going to have to be some reorganization around it.

"There’s not a state in America whose budget hasn’t had a big hole blown through it on account of this crisis. And it is my firmly held view that the Congress has to do something to step up to meet the needs of the American people providing an additional stimulus to states."

That aid will almost certainly have strings attached, and likely will not provide everything Rhode Island needs, she said. "But I’m fighting for it because we need it. And if, God forbid, if it gets to a place where we don’t get any more, we will [still] balance the budget."

In other news Tuesday, Raimondo appealed to Rhode Islanders to overcome their fear and hesitations, visit a restaurant soon when outdoor dining begins next week, and make plans for elective medical procedures to help hospitals regain their financing footings.

"We are hearing patients are still afraid," she said. "I want you to have confidence these hospitals know what they are doing. They’re safe, waiting to serve you."

Raimondo said as the economy slowly reopens, there likely will be some increase in coronavirus cases, which will make it all the more important that Rhode Islanders keep a daily log of who they come in contact with on a daily basis.

"This is what life is going to be like for a while," she said, "The reality is ... we can’t outrun the virus and we can’t hide from it."

But if everyone obeys social distancing protocols, she said, the economy can continue to reopen slowly, without having spikes in virus cases that prompt shutdowns.

Raimondo said she expected most jobs will return, and noted national surveys that found the vast majority of people who lost jobs were optimistic about regaining them.

"The people I worry most about, and who we have to figure out a solution for, are people in low-wage, low-skilled positions in industries that were already declining."

For instance, she said, employees at brick-and-mortar retail stores such as J. Crew, which recently filed for bankruptcy.

"This COVID crisis has accelerated so many of the really difficult trends we saw in our economy already."

Also Tuesday, the state Department of Health reported 14 more people had died from the coronavirus, bringing the state’s total deaths to 444.

Health Director Nicole Alexander-Scott said 13 of the 14 deaths announced Tuesday were associated with long-term care facilities. Deaths at such facilities represent some 340 of the 444 total deaths the state has seen from coronavirus, Dr. Alexander-Scott said.

There were also 164 new positive cases.

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